Combatting Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing
MAS and financial industry’s new digital platform to fight money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing
1 October 2021
MAS announced its intention to launch a digital platform and enabling regulatory framework for financial institutions (FIs) to share with one another relevant information on customers and transactions to prevent money laundering (ML), terrorism financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF). The digital platform, Collaborative Sharing of ML/TF Information and Cases (COSMIC), will enable FIs to securely share information on customers or transactions, where they cross material risk thresholds. Such information sharing will help FIs identify and disrupt illicit networks more effectively and efficiently, safeguarding the Singapore financial centre. MAS will be introducing legislative amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Act to set out a regulatory framework for COSMIC later this year. This will provide the legal basis for the sharing of risk information between FIs for anti-money laundering/ countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) purposes.
Singapore to assume Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Presidency on 1 July 2022
7 March 2022
Singapore will take on the FATF Presidency on 1 July 2022. Mr T. Raja Kumar will be appointed as President for a two-year term. Singapore will continue to support the work of the FATF in establishing and implementing global standards to combat ML/TF.
MAS published information paper on “Strengthening AML/CFT Name Screening Practices”
28 April 2022
The paper followed MAS’ thematic inspections on the AML/CFT name screening practices of selected financial institutions (FIs) in 2021. It sets out MAS’ supervisory expectations, as well as good practices, areas for improvement, and illustrative examples observed from the inspections. MAS expects all FIs to benchmark themselves against the supervisory expectations and good practices in the paper.
MAS continued to work with FIs to combat ML/TF
Ongoing
MAS completed AML/CFT thematic visits with FIs across the banking and non-banking sectors, that focused on the use of new technology for non-face-to-face customer due diligence measures. The purpose of the visits was to encourage the responsible use of new technology solutions to mitigate ML/TF risks. Key observations and best practices from these visits were published on MAS’ website in February 2022. As part of ongoing efforts to uplift industry standards, MAS also held virtual town hall sessions to engage the industry on its AML/CFT regulatory framework and supervisory expectations.
MAS actively contributed to shaping international AML/CFT standards and strengthening effectiveness at combating ML/TF
Ongoing
As the co-chair of the FATF Policy Development Group, MAS was responsible for recommending changes to global AML/CFT standards. In October 2021, MAS participated in the FATF’s project group on the issuance of an updated "Guidance for a Risk Based Approach for Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers".